The present invention relates to a short-circuit terminal assembly which serves as a bridge between circuits such as bus bar circuits.
When an intermediate current fuse, which is fitted between predetermined terminals of a connecting portion constituted by connection terminals projecting into a box in an electric circuit in the inside of a vehicle or the like, becomes useless with the change of the type of the vehicle, conventionally, the electric circuit in the inside of the vehicle is changed by re-fitting of a short-circuit terminal assembly prepared in advance as a substitute for the intermediate current fuse, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei 6-310186.
FIGS. 5 and 6 show a conventional example of the change of the electric circuit in the inside of a vehicle. FIG. 5 is a partly cutaway perspective view showing respective parts, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the short-circuit terminal assembly used in FIG. 5.
A connecting portion 3 is formed in a manner so that respective tabs 11 and 12 of first and second bus bars 1 and 2 buried in an electrically insulating substrate are bent so as to project into a box. An intermediate current fuse 4 is fitted to the connecting portion 3 so that the respective tabs 11 and 12 are fitted into built-in female terminals (not shown) to thereby close the box.
On the other hand, when the intermediate current fuse 4 is to be removed and the respective tabs 11 and 12 are to be shorted in accordance with the change of the electric circuit in the inside of the vehicle with the change of the type of the vehicle per se, or the like, the following structure is used popularly as a short-circuit terminal assembly therefor.
That is, the conventional short-circuit terminal assembly is constituted by a generally-reverse-U-shaped short-circuit terminal 7 attached into an inner space defined by a box portion 5 and a cover portion 6 which are able to be fitted into the box of the connecting portion 3.
As is apparent from the more detailed view of FIG. 6, the box portion 5 has its opened upper end surface closed by the cover portion 6, and its lower end surface substantially closed except opening portions 13 which are formed so that the tabs 11 and 12 can be fitted thereinto respectively. The box portion 5 further has a terminal holding portion 14 which is provided so as to project from the center of the lower end surface toward the upper end surface.
Further, in the reverse-U-shaped short-circuit terminal 7, a plate-like short-circuit bridge portion 8 is substantially bent to have a reverse U shape in vertical section and a pair of projection pieces are formed on opposite sides of each of leg portions of the reverse-U-shaped short-circuit bridge portion 8. The pair of projection pieces are curved into respective elastic socket portions 9 respectively which faces each other on each leg portion of the short-circuit bridge portion 8. Further, portions of the leg portions of the reverse-U-shaped short-circuit bridge portion 8 are cut-out and erected inward so as to form lance portions 10 so that the lance portions 10 are capable of being fitted into lock recesses 19 of the terminal holding portion 14.
In the reverse-U-shaped short-circuit terminal 7, the reverse-U-shape bent inner surface of the-short-circuit bridge portion 8 inserted into the box portion 5 from the upper end surface of the box portion 5 is fitted onto the terminal holding portion 14. Then, the upper end surface of the box portion 5 is closed by the cover portion 6 so as to make preparation for the change of the electric circuit in the inside of the vehicle. There has been proposed another reverse-U-shaped short-circuit terminal 7a of the type in which the plate-like short-circuit bridge portion 8 is replaced by an electric wire short-circuit bridge portion 8a and elastic socket portions 9a.
In view of compatibility with the intermediate current fuse 4 in which stability in the attachment state in the inside of the fuse member is attained in a manner so that the fuse bridge portion is bent into a reverse U-shape, the aforementioned conventional short-circuit terminal assembly is designed so that the plate-like short-circuit bridge portion 8 of the reverse-U-shaped short-circuit terminal 7 is also bent into a reverse U-shape in the same manner as the fuse bridge portion and fitted into the box portion 5.
The conventional assembly employs such a structure that it is roughly divided into the box portion 5, the cover portion 6 and the reverse-U-shaped short-circuit terminal 7 taking into account the compatibility with the intermediate current fuse 4. Accordingly, the number of parts thereof is large for the function imposed thereon to make the structure complicated.
Furthermore, the conventional short-circuit terminal assembly has a possibility that, when the two end portions of the reverse-U-shaped plate-like short-circuit bridge portion 8 are bent outward (in the direction of separation from the terminal holding portion 14) by external force, the elastic socket portions 9 are displaced in the same direction as mentioned above so as to discord from the tabs 11 and 12 passing through the opening portions 13 respectively so that a required circuit can not be closed.